"Financial repression" is a policy that is meant to tax the "stupid proles" without them knowing it, and the entire establishment aristocracy is completely aware: ``Again, there are various good reasons for this policy. But one characteristic of financial repression, as Reinhart and Sbrancia put it, is "a pervasive lack of transparency." That is, it tends to be a covert byproduct of measures which are otherwise benign. If it could be done overtly, after all, governments could simply raise taxes or slash spending and have done with it.''